Pay-disclosure advocates chafe at SEC rule delays

SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White has said the commission is committed to implementing the pay-disclosure rule.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch)—Supporters of a rule that would require public companies to disclose the ratio between executive and median employee pay say the Securities and Exchange Commission should move soon to enact the regulation.

Under the Dodd-Frank law, publicly traded companies have to disclose the ratio of executive pay to that of median employees. The disclosure must be come at annual shareholder meetings. The SEC is responsible for implementing the requirement.

In September 2013, commissioners voted 3-2 to propose creating the rule. Testifying before the Senate Banking Committee in September 2014, SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White said the commission hoped to finish the rule by the end of the year.

The commission hasn’t yet set a to vote on the proposal. A source familiar with the matter said scheduling is at White’s discretion.

An SEC spokesman declined to comment Friday.

Last month, a group of Democrats in the Senate released a letter asking White to bring the ruleup for a vote by the end of the first quarter of 2015.

Lisa Gilbert, director of the Congress Watch Division of Public Citizen, said she expects the rule to be implemented soon, but is concerned that it’s taken so long.

Gilbert also said it was helpful for investors to know how executive pay incentives in a company are structured.

Marcus Stanley, policy director for Americans for Financial Reform, said he didn’t understand the reasons for the delay from a policy perspective.

“I think it’s there’s a lot of what I think is fundamentally political resistance from industry to reveal this figure,” Stanley said. “It’s one of the simplest, most straightforward Dodd-Frank rules that has been delayed.”

Republican Commissioner Dan Gallagher has opposed the regulation, saying he believed the disclosure was meant to shame executives.

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